Remotely Guided Gun-Fired and Mortar Rounds

ABSTRACT

A method for guiding a gun-fired or mortared round towards an intended target. The method including: capturing image data from an image pick-up device during a descent of the round; transmitting the image data to a control platform remotely located from the round; transmitting guidance information to the round from the remote platform based on the captured image data; varying a flight path of the round based on the guidance information to guide the round towards its intended target.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit to U.S. Provisional Application No.61/316,348 filed on Mar. 22, 2010, the entire contents of which isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to gun-fired and mortar rounds,and more particularly, to remotely guided gun-fired and mortar rounds.

2. Prior Art

Gun-fired munitions and mortars with certain amount of guidance andcontrol capabilities have been developed. Such munitions use either GPSsignal alone or in combination with inertial sensors to arrive at apreprogrammed target position or use radar to close a target interceptguidance and control loop. Such munitions have numerous shortcomingsincluding incapability of having a decision making person in the loop,generally incapable of intercepting moving targets without complexsensory systems, as well as being complex systems to produce and operateand are very costly.

Therefore there is a need for a method of guiding gun-fired and mortarround that incorporate a simple design, that can have a person in thedecision loop, is low cost, particularly for mortars for close combatoperations that would minimize collateral damage and minimize unexplodedordinances (UXO), and can also relay back information about targetintercept or the lack thereof and its intercept position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, a method for guiding a gun-fired or mortared round towardsan intended target is provided. The method comprising: capturing imagedata from an image pick-up device during a descent of the round;transmitting the image data to a control platform remotely located fromthe round; transmitting guidance information to the round from theremote platform based on the captured image data; varying a flight pathof the round based on the guidance information to guide the roundtowards its intended target.

The transmitting of one or more of the image data and guidanceinformation can be directly received

The transmitting of one or more of the image data and guidanceinformation can be indirectly received.

The capturing can capture one of a black and white image data, colorimage data, infra-red image data or multi-pixel image data.

The method can further comprise slowing a descent of the round. Theslowing of the descent of the round can be variable.

The varying can include controlling one or more of a controllable fin orcontrollable canard disposed on the round.

The varying can include controlling one or more thrusters positioned onthe round.

The method can further comprise processing the image data to at leastreduce a rotation or translation of the image data on a display.

The method can further comprise reducing a spin or translation of theround during descent.

The method can further comprise generating the guidance information bymanually directing the round towards the intended target based on theimage data displayed on a display.

The method can further comprise generating the guidance informationthrough automated recognition of the intended target in the image data.

The method can further comprise generating the guidance information bythe operator marking the intended target on a displayed image with aninput means and calculating the guidance information based on the markedimage.

The method can further comprise generating an arm signal with an inputmeans and transmitting the arm signal to the round to arm a warhead inthe round.

The method can further comprise generating a disarm signal with an inputmeans and transmitting the disarm signal to the round to disarm awarhead in the round.

The method can further comprise transmitting position data from theround to the control platform. The position data can be used fordetermining if the intended target is hit by the round. The positiondata can be used for controlling the firing of subsequent rounds towardsthe intended target. The position data can be used for generating theguidance information.

Also provided is a gun-fired or mortared round comprising: a forwardfacing image pick-up device for capturing image data; a firsttransceiver; guidance means for varying a flight path of the round; anda first processor; wherein the first processor transmits image data fromthe image pick-up device through the first transceiver and receivesguidance information to the first processor through the firsttransceiver and controls the guidance means based on the guidanceinformation to guide the round towards an intended target.

The image pick-up device can be one of a black and white camera, colorcamera, infra-red camera or multi-pixel camera.

The gun-fired or mortared round can further comprise means for slowingthe descent of the round. The means for slowing the descent of the roundcan be parachute deployable from the round. The gun-fired or mortaredround can further comprise explosive fasteners for releasably fixing theparachute to the round.

The guidance means can include one or more of a controllable fin orcontrollable canard disposed on the round. Each of the fin or canard canbe associated with an actuation means for moving the associated fin orcanard. The actuation means can be one of an electrical motor oractuation device.

The guidance means can include one or more thrusters positioned on theround.

The gun-fired or mortared round can further comprise a GPS receiveroperatively connected to the first processor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the apparatus andmethods of the present invention will become better understood withregard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanyingdrawings where:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic of a system for remotely guiding a roundto an intended target.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic of a round used in the system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

This invention discloses a remotely guided round 100 that may be firedfrom a gun 102 or a mortar. Once the round 100 is launched, during itsinitial portion of its flight, such as at its apogee 104, the round isintended to follow its ballistic trajectory, even though the round 100may also be equipped with post-firing means of propulsion.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the round is provided with at least onesubstantially forward facing camera 106 (preferably viewing through atransparent portion 107 of the casing 108), which during the descent isdirected substantially towards the intended target 110, captures imagesof the general target area and wirelessly transmits such images to aweapon control platform 112 remotely located from the round 100. Thecamera 106 can be mounted at or near the nose area 108 a of the round.The image(s) is/are transmitted from the onboard camera 106 to theweapon control platform 112 via a secure two-way radio link by any meansknown in the art, such as by RF signal. The signal can be directlydetected at a transceiver 114 at the remote weapon control platform 112or through an intermediate receiver/transmitter, such as a satellite ornearby UAV(s).

The onboard camera 106 can be black and white to reduce the amount ofdata that needs to be transmitted, thereby increasing the rate at whichthe image can be refreshed. In certain applications, however, full orpartial color may be preferable. In another embodiment, infra-redsensitive cameras can be used to enable night imaging capability.Alternatively, cameras sensitive to both infra-red and daylight (e.g.,multi-pixel type) could be used.

At the weapon platform 112, the image(s) transmitted by the transceiver120 on board the round 100 are received by the transceiver 114 at theweapon platform 112 and can be displayed on a monitor 116 for theoperator to view. The monitor 116 can be mounted on a “fire control”console used by the operator for weapon guidance and control purposes,the mode of operation of which is described below.

Following launch and at some point in its trajectory, such as up toapogee 104, the round 100 is intended to follow its ballistictrajectory. The round 100 is provided with large enough fins (fixed ordeployable) 100 a so that during its descent (flight past the apogee),its nose 108 a is pointing downwards towards the earth/target. The round100 may be provided with a means to slow down its rate of descent. Onesuch means is a parachute 118 that can be deployed once the round haspassed apogee 104. Other means for slowing descent include a “propeller”shaped element that is positioned at or near the tail of the round. Inone embodiment, the “propeller” is attached to the housing of the roundnear the tail (fins) via bearings that allow it to rotate about the longaxis of the round. Alternatively, the “propeller” is fixed to thehousing of the round. In another embodiment, the “propeller” also servesas the round fin, since the drag that it produces serves the samefunction as the fins to stabilize the round during its flight. In yetanother embodiment, two such rotating propellers can be used aspreviously described, such as being mounted on bearings on the sameshaft, but are designed to rotate in the opposite direction as the rounddescends. By having two identical propellers (in size and the airdisplacement/drag producing characteristics) but rotating in oppositedirections, the net torque acting on the round about its long axis whichwould tend to cause the round to spin is thereby minimized. Other meansfor slowing the descent include deployable surfaces which increase thedrag of the round

Furthermore, the rate of descent can be variable, such as by simplyjettisoning the parachute 118 or a portion thereof. Where the operatorhas the round directed to the target, the operator may choose tojettison the parachute 118 to increase the rate of descent. Means forjettisoning parachutes and the like are well known in the art, such aswith explosive fasteners 126.

During the descent, if the round 100 has been fired in the generaldirection of the target 110 and if the target 100 is in the field ofview of the camera 106, the weapon system operator can view the target106 on the fire control system monitor 116.

The round 100 can also be provided with means to actively control itstrajectory, preferably by providing flight control surfaces such ascontrollable fins 100 a or canards 100 b. The control surfaces can beactuated by onboard control microprocessor and related electronics(collectively referred to as an on-board microprocessor and by referencenumeral 121) using electrical motors or actuation devices (generallyreferred to by reference numeral 123) that consume very low electricalenergy such as those disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.12/217,605 (U.S. Publication No. 2010/0275805) and 12/217,604 (U.S.Publication No. 2010/0275595) filed on Jul. 7, 2008, the contents ofeach of which are incorporated herein by reference.

In an embodiment, the guidance and control system of the disclosedweapon system operates as follows. During the descent, the operatorobserves the intended target 110 on the fire control system monitor 116.In this control system, the camera 106 acts as the sensor that displaysthe position of the target 110 relative to the round 100 in the field ofview of the camera 106. The control system console 112 is also providedwith an input means 122, such as a keyboard or joystick that by, e.g.,moving it to the right and left or up and down, a signal is transmittedto the round's onboard microprocessor 121 to actuate the controlsurfaces (100 a, 100 b) to guide (divert) the round 100 to the right orleft and/or up or down as referenced in the view observed in the firecontrol system monitor 116. This process will then continue until thetarget 110 is intercepted. In such a system, the operator may alsoprovide a signal to arm the round 100, e.g., by pressing a button on thejoystick, keyboard or the like. By providing such a feature, theoperator has the option of not arming the round 100 if it is determinedthat there is no target of interest in the field of view of the weaponor if the weapon has been fired towards an unintended site or for anyother relevant reason. Alternatively, the round 100 may be armed (uponfiring or during the flight and a relatively significant distance fromthe target), and the operator can have the option of disarming the round100 if it is determined that there is no target of interest in the fieldof view of the weapon or if the weapon has been fired towards anunintended site or for any other relevant reason. The operator can alsoarm the round at certain time and disarm it at a later time, e.g., priorto impact with the target 110. The weapon control platform 112 includesa controller/processor and associated electronics (collectively referredto as a controller and by reference numeral 113) forcontrolling/coordinating the operation of its constituent features(e.g., monitor 116, transceiver 114 and input means 122).

In such a system, the onboard camera 106 together with the weapon systemoperator acts as an inexpensive “homing sensor” for the round guidanceand control system.

It is noted that the use of control surfaces such as fins and canardsfor guidance is well known in the art and are commonly used in gun-firedprojectiles and missiles. In addition or in place of such controlsurfaces, thrusters may be used to guide the round, such as the chemicalthrusters 125 disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,800,031 and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/877,075 filed Sep. 7, 2009, the contents of eachof which are incorporated herein by reference.

The round can have a minimal rate of spin during the descent so that itis easier for the weapon system operator to correct the trajectory ofthe round to intercept the target. The weapon control platform 112 canbe provided with an image processing algorithm that would allow theimage viewed on the monitor 116 to be substantially still rotationallyand/or in translation to make it easier for the operator to performguidance and other control and operational tasks. This would also allowthe rate of descent to be selected to be higher, thereby increasing theelement of surprise and minimizing the amount of time that the targetwould have to avoid being intercepted. Image processing algorithm forcorrecting for spin and translation are well known in the art.Alternatively, control surfaces or thrusters can be used to reduce oreven eliminate the spin.

In yet another embodiment, the image received at the fire control systemmay be used to automatically detect the target using image processingand pattern recognition algorithm by the weapon control platform'scontroller 113, which could directly send the required guidance andcontrol signals to the round microprocessor 121 until the target isintercepted. Such a process may include intervention of an operator,e.g., to give the go-ahead to the target interception, arm or disarm thewarhead or to verify the target or the like.

Alternatively, the operator can mark the target on the display 116 andthe controller 113 can automatically guide the round to the target bysending the required guidance and control signals to the roundmicroprocessor 121 until the target is intercepted. As such, theoperator can use a pointing device, such as a trackball, mouse, joystickand the like to position a pointer over the intended target and indicatethe target by clicking, pushing a button or the like. The controller 113then automatically guides the round to the target and sends the requiredguidance and control signals to the round microprocessor 121 until thetarget is intercepted.

In yet another embodiment, the round can be released from an airbornevehicle such as an UAV or manned airplane or a missile. The round mayalso be a sub-munition that is released from a cargo round carryingmultiple such sub-munitions.

It is appreciated by those familiar with the art that such a round mayalso be equipped with numerous other sensory devices and seekers toprovide more capabilities to the user, such as detection at a distanceto the target, which can also be displayed to the operator on themonitor 116. However, in general, each addition of such sensory devicesand/or seekers increases the system complexity, requires more electricalpower to operate and thereby require larger onboard power sources, andin effect reduce the volume available for weapon lethality.

In yet another embodiment, the round 100 can be provided with a GPSsensor 124 that is used for navigation, guidance and/or controlpurposes, in addition to the aforementioned camera based guidance andcontrol and in certain situations in place of the aforementioned camerabased guidance and control system.

The aforementioned GPS sensor can be used by the round to constantlydetermine its position relative to the earth and transmit that positionback to the fire control system at the weapon control platform 112 orother fire control system(s) in field for fire control purposes such asfor target damage assessment. Upon target impact or just prior to targetimpact, the round could also transmit its impact GPS coordinates,preferably together with its arming status, and a signal indicatingdetonation and/or impact. The time of the impact can be generallydetermined by the time of termination of the signal transmission. If thesignal continues to be transmitted, then it would be known to the weaponcontrol platform and the operator that the round has not detonated. Ineither case, if the round detonation confirmation signal has not beenreceived, it would then be known to the fire control system(s) that anunexploded ordinance (UXO) has been generated and where it is locatedand whether it is armed or disarmed, etc.

The aforementioned transmitted impact GPS coordinates can be used by theweapon control platform to determine if the intended target was hit andif it was not hit, how much correction is to be made to the firingdirection. The transmitted impact GPS coordinates can be used to close afeedback loop to provide correction to the gun, mortar, rocket, or thelike firing the round. In addition, the aforementioned impact sensoryinformation, such as if a hard or soft target was impacted provide anindication as whether the intended target was hit.

In addition, the personnel monitoring the image viewed on the monitor116 from the round camera 106 can readily disarm the round if the rounddoes not appear to be heading towards the intended target.

In addition, the operator can provide a GPS coordinate of an intendedtarget to the round and the GPS receiver on board the round can inputthe round's GPS coordinates to the round's on-board computer to guidethe round towards the GPS coordinate of the intended target. In whichcase, the operator can further override such guidance with the inputmeans 122 while observing the intended target using the camera images.

While there has been shown and described what is considered to bepreferred embodiments of the invention, it will, of course, beunderstood that various modifications and changes in form or detailcould readily be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention. It is therefore intended that the invention be not limited tothe exact forms described and illustrated, but should be constructed tocover all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appendedclaims.

1. A method for guiding a gun-fired or mortared round towards anintended target, the method comprising: capturing image data from animage pick-up device during a descent of the round; transmitting theimage data to a control platform remotely located from the round;transmitting guidance information to the round from the remote platformbased on the captured image data; varying a flight path of the roundbased on the guidance information to guide the round towards itsintended target.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting ofone or more of the image data and guidance information is directlyreceived.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of one ormore of the image data and guidance information is indirectly received.4. The method of claim 1, wherein the capturing captures one of a blackand white image data, color image data, infra-red image data ormulti-pixel image data.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprisingslowing a descent of the round.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein theslowing of the descent of the round is variable.
 7. The method of claim1, wherein the varying includes controlling one or more of acontrollable fin or controllable canard disposed on the round.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the varying includes controlling one or morethrusters positioned on the round.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising processing the image data to at least reduce a rotation ortranslation of the image data on a display.
 10. The method of claim 1,further comprising reducing a spin or translation of the round duringdescent.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating theguidance information by manually directing the round towards theintended target based on the image data displayed on a display.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising generating the guidanceinformation through automated recognition of the intended target in theimage data.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating theguidance information by the operator marking the intended target on adisplayed image with an input means and calculating the guidanceinformation based on the marked image.
 14. The method of claim 1,further comprising generating an arm signal with an input means andtransmitting the arm signal to the round to arm a warhead in the round.15. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a disarm signalwith an input means and transmitting the disarm signal to the round todisarm a warhead in the round.
 16. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising transmitting position data from the round to the controlplatform.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the position data is usedfor determining if the intended target is hit by the round.
 18. Themethod of claim 16, wherein the position data is used for controllingthe firing of subsequent rounds towards the intended target.
 19. Themethod of claim 16, wherein the position data is used for generating theguidance information.
 20. A gun-fired or mortared round comprising: aforward facing image pick-up device for capturing image data; a firsttransceiver; guidance means for varying a flight path of the round; anda first processor; wherein the first processor transmits image data fromthe image pick-up device through the first transceiver and receivesguidance information to the first processor through the firsttransceiver and controls the guidance means based on the guidanceinformation to guide the round towards an intended target.
 21. Thegun-fired or mortared round of claim 20, wherein the image pick-updevice is one of a black and white camera, color camera, infra-redcamera or multi-pixel camera.
 22. The gun-fired or mortared round ofclaim 20, further comprising means for slowing the descent of the round.23. The gun-fired or mortared round of claim 22, wherein the means forslowing the descent of the round is parachute deployable from the round.24. The gun-fired or mortared round of claim 23, further comprisingexplosive fasteners for releasably fixing the parachute to the round.25. The gun-fired or mortared round of claim 20, wherein the guidancemeans includes one or more of a controllable fin or controllable canarddisposed on the round.
 26. The gun-fired or mortared round of claim 25,wherein each of the fin or canard is associated with an actuation meansfor moving the associated fin or canard.
 27. The gun-fired or mortaredround of claim 26, wherein the actuation means is one of an electricalmotor or actuation device.
 28. The gun-fired or mortared round of claim20, wherein the guidance means includes one or more thrusters positionedon the round.
 29. The gun-fired or mortared round of claim 20, furthercomprising a GPS receiver operatively connected to the first processor.